Sony Torching SOCOM, MAG Servers

Sony’s line of all caps shooters are due to be extinguished as the sun rises on January 29th, 2014. Super FPS MAG, with its hyped 256-player landscapes, collapses alongside a previously tentpole military shooter SOCOM via SOCOM 4 and SOCOM: Confrontation.

With the PSP & PlayStation 2 editions also offline, this renders the detailed military sim dead, almost certainly a victim of ballooning popularity between Battlefield and Call of Duty franchises. SOCOM developer Zipper Interactive closed their doors on May 30th, 2012, so it would seem as if Sony’s series was given a reprieve for well over a year.

Despite dwindling audiences, it is a shame Sony didn’t try a new methodology, say turning MAG free-to-play. Franchise appeal must be worth something, although offering the title as a free download via PlayStation Plus must have created minimal player impact.